Crime statistics show most burglars visit the front door first before attempting to enter a premise. Statistics show 72.4% of burglaries occur when the premise is unoccupied (National Crime Survey, 2003-2007). Most burglars scout for easy targets. When victimized homes are occupied, many more homes are targeted when women were home alone than men.
Conventional crime prevention solutions are passive and offer little crime prevention value. Conventional solutions include outdoor security cameras, signs, and decals from traditional alarm companies. The effectiveness of conventional crime prevention solutions is limited because criminals know they have time to take some valuables and leave before police arrive, even if the alarm is triggered. Many burglaries are not considered high priorities for the police and they will not pursue investigation even if video images of the criminals are available.
One alternative is for a homeowner to construct his own system with similar functionality. There are security video cameras that can detect motion and send alerts to homeowners and let them view live video. However, such cameras are designed for monitoring, and not designed to deter and prevent criminals. They are missing critical features that make prevention effective.
The disadvantages of current crime prevention solutions are significant. An alarm system only tells the criminals that the police may come in approximately 8 minutes if the alarm is triggered. An alarm system is inconvenient to arm and generates many false alarms. Criminals know that alarm systems are often not armed. Alarm systems also indicate to criminals that often no one is at home and there are valuables to protect.
Conventional crime prevention solutions also do not enable easy sharing of collected images, video, and other information among neighbors or other people.
It would be desirable to implement an eReceptionist and eNeighborhood watch system for crime prevention and/or verification.